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The legends of
Lake Lau
By PETER PIA
Papua New Guinea is naturally blessed with resources, unique flora
and fauna.
It has some world's spectacular and magnificent forest, rivers,
mountains and valleys.
Enga province has its fair share of natural wonders, one such
place is Lake Lau.
Lake Lau is situated at Yopos in the upper Lagaip headwaters in
Pilikambi, Laiagam district.
Yopos is in Engan dialect to mean 'Whistling Grassland'.
The background of the lake is surrounded by whistling grassland,
in Engan dialect referred as Papampau.
It sits on a volcanic- crater but different people have their own
say and descriptions.
Lake Lau is Enga's only lake that tells a lot of stories and
legends from the past.
Enga province is home to many lakes which are the source of other
river sources in PNG.
These may included Lai that leads to Sepik River in the north of
Enga, the Lagaip that feeds the Strickland to Fly River and the
Lai and Kagual rivers to Purari and Kikori rivers towards the
south, which all have their roots at beautiful Yopos valley where
the Lake Lau is.
The lake is blue in color and surrounded by untouched vegetations.
Last year a group of young enthusiastic boys led by Dominic Murian
who works with Enga Provincial Government as a communication
engineer went to visit Lake Lau.
They started their journey through Aiyel Valley towards the west
of Wabag.
It took them four days and nights to reach the lake.
The first glimpse of the lake is breath taking. The lake is like a
mirror that reflects the sky.
A cloudless clear day will be reflected as such with a dark
kerosene blue resemblance. Its uniqueness is attributed to the
cleanliness of the lake with no dirt or leaves floating.
Every leaf that falls to the lake gets washed ashore. The lake is
drinkable; hence cooking was done with water fetched from it.
The western end of the lake is grassland while the eastern end is
mostly forest. The lake according to our observation had no inlet
due to the situation and no outlet of its waters.
It is believed that it has underwater fountain as its inlet.
Some legends say the lake is sitting in a volcanic crater. Other
legend describe the lake as being biblical welcoming people who
are pure in heart with crystal waters that will turn dark when
sinners come near.
Another legend tells of a white man who lives in the lake, another
of a big city beneath the lake.
In the past, people from Kandep district died from big hunger and
famine (starvation) on the way to search for food in Laiagam and
Wabag. Similarly, Laiagam people lost their lives to search for
better lives in Tsaka Valley in Wapenemanda district.
The remains especially bones and skulls of dead people still
evident today in the thick jungle.
Some people were believed to have been taken away by masalais or
ghosts because their remainings are kept today in a cave called
Waiyanda Cave which situated in the boarder of Wabag and Pumas (Laiagam).
 
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